Joel "El Toro" McIntyre.

Joel McIntyre is a Portsmouth fighter who did it the hard way. He turned professional in November 2010 and built a 31-fight career, winning the English light-heavyweight title not once but twice, first in December 2016 in front of a home crowd in Portsmouth, then again in July 2022 when he travelled to his opponent's back yard and took the belt back at the age of 34.

In between those two nights sat the part most people never see. Defeats. A stoppage loss in his first defence. Nearly three years out of the ring. A retirement announcement he later tore up. He came back in 2021 and knocked out an unbeaten opponent in 30 seconds on South Parade Pier, then rebuilt all the way to a second championship. Across his career he shared the ring with the best light-heavyweights in Britain, including Miles Shinkwin, Lyndon Arthur, Shakan Pitters, Liam Conroy and Lewis Edmondson. He never ducked anyone, and he says himself he would like to be remembered simply for being sound and for fighting anybody.

Long before the pro ranks, Joel won the Haringey Box Cup in 2009 with the only knockout of the entire tournament. The discipline came earlier still, from a grandfather who put him in a boxing gym and showed him what showing up every day actually looks like.

Through JMPT and The Strength Project, Joel now works with everyday people rather than prospects. His approach is straightforward. Real training for real people. Strength, fitness, confidence and longevity, built on proven methods, proper technique and honest work. No gimmicks, no shortcuts, no six-week miracles. As he puts it, the gym is the place where you win or lose a fight, and that applies whether you are stepping through the ropes or just trying to get your life back in order.

Joel knows what it is to get knocked down in public and have to get back up anyway. He has spoken openly about the mental side of the sport, and how without your head right you do not stand a chance. That is the same message we carry into every session we run.

He brings something to our team that cannot be taught on a course. Fifteen years of learning how to lose properly, how to start again when the obvious move is to quit, and how to keep going when nobody is clapping. For the young people we work with in schools, in the community and in the justice sector, Joel is proof that where you start does not decide where you finish. A Portsmouth lad from Leigh Park who became a two-time national champion is a better argument than any leaflet we could hand out.

Strength, resilience, discipline and a second chance taken with both hands. That is why he fits here.